Thread: metric or inches

do what you feel comfortable with. if you are happy to use imperial, and then convert to metric for the smaller things (your calipers are metric only the way i understand it) it would work fine. if you think the ease of use in metric is worth converting some things then id do that. personally i jump around a bit, but i have the number 25.4 burned in my head and always keep a calculator in the work area. now i only use imperial when doing something related to scale length, but when i first started (not long ago) would use imperial alot just because thats what i saw most things in when reading something related to a guitar.

for making a guitar, 0.1 mm is plenty, because you wont ever be able to use any of the tools to that accuracy anyway, not even a pencil

i find after 4 completed builds and two almost done i am still flicking between metric and imperial. mostly though when measuring things now i am using metric more and more

for scale length, bridge layout and nut width i still use imperial.
i just havent got those conversions into my head

i use this a lot

I work in both...too much hastle doing the conversions and it creates potential for error (especially marking out fret slots etc). As a majority of the best known guitar building texts are imperial that's what I generally use. Youll find that most of the more recent texts have both imoerial and metric figures quoted.

Its not hard to get a set of rulers that are graduated in both metric and imperial and my thickness caliper is in inches. Its not hard to get a dual scale vernier caliper.

Router cutters - I have a mixture of both imperial and metric sourced mainly from Carbi-tool.

I just noticed you're planning to build a resonator as your first build. Im not intending to have a go at your woodworking skills but you may find this a big challenge for your first build. Please post up pics of the guitar as it takes shape.....resonators fascinate me.

Originally Posted by old_picker

i find after 4 completed builds and two almost done i am still flicking between metric and imperial. mostly though when measuring things now i am using metric more and more

for scale length, bridge layout and nut width i still use imperial.
i just havent got those conversions into my head

i use this a lot

if you get Stewmac to post you their catalogue it includes an insert which ocntains all the common measurements and their metric equivalents.

PM me if you want a PDF version of same. I keep it stuck on my wall above my bench and refer to it often.

I'll use both aswell, Metric for anything im doing and imperial for any given measurments, Eg: set up, string height, thicknesses.....

As long as I know what's going on I really don't care what the numbers are. But I do have rulers with both scales on them a 150mm long, 300mm, 600mm and a 1m all the steel tec school type.

Ps Sharp pencil is very handy.

I find it easier to stick to one or the other and not mix them up.
You sometimes convert one to the other and you may not cut to the exact size , an imperial measurement maybe equal to say 27.35mm which is very hard to cut to so by using the imperial equivilent is easier.
less chance of any boo boos when puting things together.